Viewing of commercial break content during fast-forwarding of a video stream

ABSTRACT

Commercial break content that is viewed during fast-forwarding through a commercial break is provided by embedding one or more frames of commercial break content at various points in time during a commercial break segment. During fast-forwarding, the video stream for at least some of those points in time are displayed by the recording device to the viewer. Accordingly, multiple occurrences of frames that have been embedded are displayed during the fast-forwarding such that the commercial break content expressed by the frames is conveyed to the viewer during the fast-forwarding period.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments provide for the viewing of commercial break content. Moreparticularly, embodiments provide for the viewing of commercial breakcontent during the fast-forwarding of a video stream.

BACKGROUND

Personal video recorders (PVR), also known as digital video recorders(DVR), and service provider enabled video-on-demand (VOD) have made itpossible to watch television programming with much greater flexibilityfor the viewer. These technologies give the television viewer theability to watch the programming whenever the viewer wishes rather thanat the normal time that the programming is aired by the televisionnetwork. Thus, many television viewers have purchased PVR devices to usein conjunction with their cable, satellite, and/or over-the-airtelevision service and/or have subscribed to VOD service.

Typically, the commercial breaks are recorded for playback with PVRdevices and/or VOD service. Therefore, the user may watch thosecommercial breaks while watching the programming at the desired time.However, such recorded programming via the PVR device or VOD serviceprovides the viewer with more advanced functions such as the ability toquickly fast-forward through commercial breaks. For example, many PVRdevices allow fast forwarding at a rate of 1 minute of playback time persecond. For a three-minute commercial break, the commercial break takesonly three seconds to skip. During this three seconds, the viewer isexposed to scattered frames of the commercial break, each scatteredframe appearing for only small fraction of a second.

Perhaps the majority of television viewers who use PVR devices or VODservice choose to fast-forward through the commercial breaks and absorblittle if any of the commercial content that is present. This is thecase because the scattered frames provide just enough visual informationfor the viewer to recognize when the commercial break has ended and thetelevision show being watched has resumed. This fast-forwarding throughcommercial breaks poses a substantial problem for advertisers andtelevision networks because the value of the commercial time beingpurchased by the advertisers is greatly diminished by thefast-forwarding through the commercial break.

SUMMARY

Embodiments address these issues and others by providing one or moreframes of commercial break content that are embedded at a plurality ofpoints during a commercial break segment. When the fast-forwardingoccurs, among the scattered frames that are displayed during thefast-forwarding, a substantial number of the embedded frame(s) will bedisplayed such that the viewer absorbs the commercial break content fromthose embedded frame(s) for a given commercial break. Accordingly, whilenormal commercial content of the commercial break is skipped altogetheror otherwise incomprehensible during the fast-forwarding, the multipleoccurrences of the display of the embedded frame(s) allow an advertisingmessage to be conveyed to the viewer.

Embodiments provide a method of providing commercial break contentduring the fast-forwarding of a video stream. The method involvesproviding at least one frame of commercial break content video. Themethod further involves embedding within a commercial break segment ofthe video stream at a plurality of points at least one frame of videocontaining the commercial break content, at least a portion of theplurality of points corresponding to fast forward display points of avideo recording device capable of recording and fast-forwarding throughthe video stream, where the plurality of points are separated in time.

Embodiments provide a computer system for generating a video streamincluding commercial break content. The computer system includes atleast one input device and an output device. The computer system furtherincludes a processor configured to receive commercial video and at leastone frame of commercial break content via the at least one input deviceand to create a commercial break segment by embedding at least one stillframe of the set at each of a plurality of points within the commercialvideo. The points of the plurality are separated in time with at leastsome commercial video other than the at least one frame of commercialbreak content being located in time between each of the points of theplurality. The processor is further configured to output the commercialbreak segment via the output device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an example of a television network system that creates anddistributes commercial break content for viewing during thefast-forwarding of commercial breaks by a PVR or VOD service.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a network computer system that embeds framesof commercial break content at points where that will be displayedduring fast-forwarding through commercial breaks.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a PVR device that fast-forwards through acommercial break that has frames of commercial break content for viewingduring fast-forwarding embedded within it.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a set of logical operations for addingcommercial break content for viewing during fast-forwarding to a videostream.

FIGS. 5A-5D show examples of a timelines of a television programincluding commercial break segments that have commercial break contentfor viewing during fast-forwarding.

FIGS. 6A-6D show examples of series of commercial break content framesbeing displayed for the viewer during fast-forwarding of a video stream.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments provide commercial break content for viewing duringfast-forwarding. The commercial break content is included as framesembedded at various points in time during a commercial break.Accordingly, during fast-forwarding, the playback device displays thevideo stream for at least a portion of those points in time such thatmultiple occurrences of the frame(s) of commercial break content thathave been embedded are displayed to the viewer. The exposure to themultiple occurrences during the fast-forwarding increases the likelihoodthat the viewer is absorbing the commercial break content, and as aresult, the value of the commercial break content of the video streamthat has been recorded is increased.

The one or more frames of commercial break content that are embedded ina video stream for display during the commercial break, particularlyduring fast-forwarding of the commercial break, may have manyvariations. For example, a single frame of commercial break content maybe repeated at each of the pertinent points throughout the commercialbreak. In such a case, for a PVR capable of covering a 3 minutecommercial break in 3 seconds during fast-forwarding, the viewer issubjected to approximately 3 seconds of the single frame of commercialbreak content such that the viewer is more likely to absorb the content.Advertisers are more likely to get the benefit of their money spent onthe advertising time.

As another example of the variation in the commercial break content, atleast some of the frames of commercial break content that are to bedisplayed over the series of pertinent points of the commercial breakmay be a sequence of slightly different frames, as opposed to repeatinga single frame, so as to give the appearance of motion of objects ortext. In such a case, for a PVR capable of covering a 3 minutecommercial break in 3 seconds during fast-forwarding, the viewer issubjected to approximately 3 seconds of the sequence. As a specificexample, if the PVR is displays a pertinent point in the video streamfor every 8 seconds of normal playback time, then the sequence wouldhave approximately 7 frames per second for a total of about 21 framesfor the entire sequence over the course of the commercial break duringfast-forwarding.

As yet another example of the variation in the commercial break content,at least some of the frames of commercial break content may be less thanfull frame, such as where ordinary commercial content is displayed in atleast a portion of the frame while the embedded content is displayed inanother portion or superimposed over the ordinary commercial content.

As yet another example of the variation of the commercial break content,at least some of the frames of the commercial break content may be takenfrom the television program being watched by the viewer. Thus, duringthe fast-forwarding, the viewer sees the one or more frames taken fromthe television program being watched and mistakenly believes that thecommercial break has now been skipped. Upon stopping fast-forwarding inorder to begin watching the television program at normal playback speed,the video stream being displayed is actually the commercial breaksegment such that the viewer is exposed to the commercial content duringnormal playback speed. The net result may be that over time, the vieweris frustrated during fast-forwarding and decreases the likelihood of theviewer fast-forwarding through commercial breaks.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a television distribution environment 100. Atelevision station head-end 102, such as a national television networkbroadcasting point, a local television network broadcasting point, andthe like, generates a video stream that is submitted downstream totelevision viewers. In this example, the head-end 102 includes storage104 of commercial break content as well as storage 106 of the televisionprogramming. The television programming of storage 106 may already havecommercial breaks within the video stream where those commercial breaksmay contain normal commercial content intended for normal speedplayback.

The commercial break content of storage 104, which may be of anyvariation such as any one or more of those previously discussed, ismixed together with the programming of storage 106 with the mixer device108. The frame to be embedded is added to the video stream at thepertinent point in playback time by the mixer 108 such that duringfast-forwarding, when the pertinent point is reached and is displayed,it is the embedded commercial break content frame that is displayedrather than some arbitrary frame of the normal commercial content of theprogramming. The mixer 108 adds the appropriate frame of commercialbreak content from storage 104 to each of the pertinent points withinthe commercial breaks of the programming of storage 106.

The mixer 108 may be operated on a manual or automated basis in order toembed the frames of commercial break content. The mixer 108 may find thepertinent points to embed the frames of commercial break content byfinding the beginning of the commercial break. This may be tagged insome manner such as simply by having one or more blank frames as thestart frames of the commercial break, where these blank frames aredetectable by the mixer 108 operating as an automated device. Where themixer 108 is operated as a manual device, the beginning of thecommercial break is visually detectable by the operator.

The mixer 108 may operate to create a video stream that includes thecommercial break content embedded at the pertinent points either in areal-time scenario for an automated mixer 108, or in advance of playbackof the video stream for either a manual or automated mixer 108.

The mixer 108 outputs the resulting video stream containing theprogramming with the commercial breaks having normal commercial contentas well as the commercial break content embedded at the pertinentpoints, to either a VOD system 112 and/or to a transmission system 110.The VOD system 112 may store the video stream including the embeddedcommercial break content for future playback upon request by asubscriber. In that case, upon receiving a fast-forward command, thepertinent points being displayed, and therefore, the commercial breakcontent that has been embedded at those pertinent points is what is seenby the viewer during the fast-forwarding. As an alternative, theprogramming may be maintained long-term within storage 106 such that theVOD system 112 may access the programming from storage 106 via the mixer108 whereby when the VOD system 112 receives fast-forwarding commandsfrom viewers, the VOD system 112 may then obtain the commercial breakcontent frames from the mixer 108 on the basis of having received thefast-forward command. The VOD system 112 may thereby begin providing thevideo stream with the commercial break content frames being inserted inreal-time at the pertinent points which are being seen by the viewerduring the fast-forwarding.

The mixer 108 may also output the video stream having the commercialbreak content frames embedded at the pertinent points directly to thetransmission system 110. At the transmission system 110, the videostream(s) including the embedded commercial break content are queued forregular broadcast television transmission to viewers through theconvention channels of television distribution. Likewise, the videostreams from the VOD system 112 may be provided to the transmissionsystem 110 for distribution to viewers. For example, the transmissionsystem 110 may have a satellite uplink 114 to satellite 118 and/or maymaintain a link to a land-based distribution network 116 such as a cablenetwork or an over-the-air distribution system.

On the receiving end, a consumer premises 120 includes a receivingdevice, such as an STB or PVR 122 connected to a viewing device such asa television 126. The receiving device has some interface to adistribution system of the television service provider, such as a linkto the distribution network 116 or satellite receiving dish 124. Theviewer at premises 120 may wish to fast-forward through commercialbreaks where the incoming video stream has been recorded by a PVR 122 orwhere the STB or PVR 122 is receiving VOD programming. The STB or PVR122 receives an instruction from the viewer, such as by receiving asignal sent from a remote control of the viewer, and then proceeds tofast-forward through the commercial break. However, when the pertinentpoints in playback time are displayed, rather than viewing only thearbitrary and scattered frames of the normal commercial content, theviewer instead views at least some of the embedded frames of commercialbreak content.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the head-end system 102 and particularly,various components of one example of a mixer 108. The programming fromstorage 106 and commercial break content of storage 104, such asindividual frames 218 as well as streams 216 that include a sequence offrames, are provided via input port(s) 204 to the mixer 108. The videostreams of programming and the video frames may be stored in a digitizedformat or in an analog format. The input ports 204 may be either analogor digital video signal inputs. A processor 202 operates upon theincoming video streams and frames to embed the commercial break contentframes within the commercial content that is inserted into thecommercial breaks of the programming. The processor 202 may be adedicated purpose, hard-wired processor, a general purpose programmableprocessor, or any combination thereof. Where the processing of the videoframes is done in the digital domain but the video streams and framesare stored in analog format, the input ports 204 may include analog todigital conversion.

The processor 202 may access programming instructions and may storeinformation within memory 206, which may include random access memory,read-only memory, or any combination thereof. The processor 202 andmemory 206 are examples of computer readable media where computerprogramming instructions are maintained. Computer readable media mayinclude storage media such as electronic, magnetic, and optical storagedevices, as well as communications media such as wired and wirelessconnections of devices.

Local storage device 208, such as a mass storage drive, may also bepresent for the mixer device 108 to also store application programs andother instructions for the processor as well as to provide additionalstorage typically of a greater capacity than that of the memory 206. Forexample, incoming video streams and frames in digitized form may bestored in local storage device 208 prior to the frames of the commercialbreak content being embedded into the video stream of the program.Furthermore, the resulting video stream that includes the embeddedcommercial break content frames may be stored in the local storagedevice 208 prior to being output to the appropriate system.

The mixer 108 may include output devices 210 such as audio outputs andvideo outputs so that an operator may see and hear the video streams,frames, and resulting video streams. Furthermore, the video output mayprovide the operator with a user interface for configuring the mixerand/or manually controlling the embedding of the commercial breakcontent frames within the video stream of the desired program.

The mixer 108 may include input devices 212 such as a keyboard, mouse,and the like to allow an operator to provide inputs to control theoperation of the mixer 108. The operator may provide inputs to controlthe embedding process, to control the outputting of the video streams,to accept incoming video streams and frames, and so forth.

The mixer 108 may also include output ports 214 such as to output avideo stream to the appropriate downstream system. For example, theremay be provided an output port 214 that provides a video stream to atransmitter 110 for real-time or near real-time distribution to viewers.There may be provided an output port 214 that provides a video stream toa VOD storage system 112 for distribution to a viewer upon request. Aspreviously discussed, the mixer 108 may embed the commercial breakcontent frames at the pertinent points of the commercial break inadvance of distribution to viewers or in real-time, such as upon requestby a viewer to begin fast-forwarding. The output ports 214 may be analogor digital depending upon the format of the video streams when beingmanipulated by the mixer 108 and the format required by the downstreamsystem. The output ports 214 may include digital to analog converterswhere the mixer 108 manipulates the video stream in the digital domainbut the downstream systems require an analog video stream.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the storage devices 104 and 106, the mixer108, the transmission system 110, and the VOD system 112 are separatecomponents to the head-end system 102. However, it will be appreciatedthat these components may be combined in various manners, such ascombining the mixer 108 with the transmission system 110.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an STB/PVR 122 that receives video streamsfrom a distribution channel and outputs them to a display device such asa television where they can be seen by a viewer. The incoming televisiondistribution signals such as from a satellite, a land-based network, orover-the-air are received by receiver 302 which then tunes to theappropriate channel as selected by the viewer. The video stream from thechannel is then operated upon in one of various ways depending upon thefunctionality present within the STB/PVR 122.

Where the video signal has undergone digital encoding, then a decoder304, such as a motion picture experts group (MPEG) decoder mayconventionally decode the video signal and then provide it to outputport(s) 312 where the video signal may then be transferred to atelevision for real time display such as in the case of a non-PVR STB122 or for a PVR STB 122 that provides for real-time display in additionto a buffered display.

In the context of a non-local storage VOD system, the STB 122 may simplydisplay the incoming video stream, whether it is a normal playback speedor a fast-forward speed as established at the VOD system of thehead-end. In that case, where the viewer has opted to fast-forward andthe VOD system begins sending the fast-forward of the video stream bysending the series of frames located at the pertinent points in time,then the commercial break content frames embedded at those pertinentpoints in time are displayed for the viewer.

In the context of a PVR system and/or a local storage VOD system, thePVR 122 may record the incoming video stream to a storage device 314 forstoring media content such as the program currently being received butnot necessarily being watched in real-time or near-real-time. Thereceiver 302 may provide the encoded signal to the storage device whereit is stored in the format in which it has been received. Alternatively,a decoder 304 of some embodiments may decode the incoming signal andencode it using a custom encoding specified by the PVR 122 prior to itbeing stored locally.

In the context of this PVR system, instead of viewing in real-time, theviewer may wish to playback the program at a different time and theprogram is accessed from media storage 314. During playback, the viewermay elect to fast-forward through commercial breaks, and the videostream that has been received from the head-end 102 already has embeddedtherein at the pertinent points the commercial break content frames. Aprocessor 306 of the PVR 122 receives the fast-forward instruction viainput device 310 such as a touch button or a remote control signalsensor, and the processor 306 begins pulling the frames at the pertinentpoints in time from the media storage 314, decoding them via the decoder304, and outputting them via output port(s) 312 for display to theviewer. However, rather than only arbitrary frames of commercial contentbeing displayed, at least some of the embedded frames of commercialbreak content are displayed during the fast-forwarding.

The processor 306 of this example of a PVR 122 may be a dedicatedpurpose hardwired processor, may be a general purpose programmableprocessor, or some combination thereof. The processor 306 may accessinstructions and other information from memory 308 and may also storeinformation within memory 308. Memory 308 may be volatile memory such asrandom access memory, non-volatile memory such as read only memory, orsome combination thereof. The processor 306 and memory 308 of the PVR122 are further examples of computer readable media.

Output port(s) 312 may be of various types. Examples of the output fromthe PVR 122 include but are not limited to a radio frequency modulatedanalog signal via a coaxial output, a base band analog signal via acomposite jack, a base band analog signal via an S-video jack, a baseband analog signal via component video jacks, or a digital signal via adigital video interface (DVI) or high definition multi-media interface(HDMI) jack.

As an alternative to or in addition to the head end embedding commercialbreak content frames into the video stream at the pertinent points intime, the PVR 122 may do so. The PVR 122 may store the commercial breakcontent frames in storage 316. Upon the processor 306 receiving thefast-forward command from the user via the input device 310, theprocessor 306 may begin pulling the commercial break content frames fromstorage 316 and displaying them at the pertinent points in time of thevideo stream by decoding them via decoder 304 if necessary andoutputting them via the output port(s) 312. In this alternativeimplementation, there is a distinct advantage due to the PVR havingawareness of exactly which points in time of the commercial break arethe pertinent points where display of the corresponding frame(s) willoccur such that the PVR may very accurately insert the commercial breakcontent into the correct points in time for display to the viewer.

In this alternative implementation, the PVR 122 may have no knowledge ofhow lengthy the commercial break being fast-forwarded over is, so inorder to avoid having the real-time embedded commercial break contentframes continue into the program being watched, the PVR 122 may assume astandard commercial break length such as 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, thePVR 122 may resume display of frames from the program that have beenrecorded into storage 314 at the pertinent points in time during thefast-forwarding. In this manner, the viewer will eventually see theframes of the program being watched so that the viewer will recognizethat the commercial break has ended and the normal speed playback of theprogram may resume.

In this alternative implementation, the PVR 122 becomes the commercialbreak content source. Accordingly, the PVR 122 must obtain thecommercial break content frames through some manner of download or havethem pre-installed. Even if pre-installed, it would be desirable toupdate the commercial break content in storage 316 of the PVR 122. Thismay occur through well-known mechanisms for providing commercial contentto PVRs, such as late night service downloads, and so forth. Since thecommercial break content for a given commercial break may be as few as20 frames of a sequence, or even a single frame where repeated for allpertinent points in time of the commercial break, the amount of video todownload for a given commercial break is relatively small and would havelittle impact on the service download process. The PVR service providermay derive additional revenue by offering this as an advertisementservice to advertisers and/or networks.

FIG. 4 shows a set of logical operations that may be performed to embedthe commercial break content frames into the video stream so that thecommercial break content is displayed during fast-forwarding through thecommercial break. At commercial segment operation 402, the deviceperforming the embedding, such as the head-end mixer or the PVR of thecustomer, finds the pertinent point in time within a commercial breakfor the embedding of one or more frames of commercial break content. Tofind this point in time, a beginning of a commercial break is found suchas by scanning for the blank screen that precedes the initial commercialof the commercial break. Upon finding this blank screen, the pertinenttime is found on the basis of a point in playback time starting from theblank screen where the PVR or VOD will obtain and display a frame. Thispoint in time may be known information or may be determined empirically.For example, it has been observed that if a user immediately enters thetriple-speed fast-forward upon an occurrence of the blank screen using aTiVo® PVR, the PRV will begin displaying frames at a relatively steadypace at approximately the 22 second mark on the normal playback speedtimeline. Thus, the first point in time may be 22 seconds and 22 secondsbeyond the blank screen is located.

After having located the first pertinent point in time on the normalspeed playback timeline, the device embeds the first frame of commercialbreak content for fast-forward viewing at that point in time atinsertion operation 404. The embedding may involve creating a gap at thepertinent point in time, e.g., starting at the 22 second mark after theblank screen, where the gap has a width in time sufficient to accept adesired duration of the commercial break content frame being embedded.As discussed below, it may be desirable to repeat the commercial breakcontent frame over a particular duration to better ensure that the framewill be displayed due to variation in the timing of the user enteringthe fast-forward instruction. The commercial break content frame isrepeated at the pertinent point in time for the desired duration atduration operation 406.

When performing the embedding at the head-end, the normal commercialcontent may have been designed to accommodate the commercial breakcontent that is being embedded at the pertinent points in time where thecommercial break content dominates the frame. Thus, for a 3 minutecommercial break, the network may instruct advertisers to provide 22second long commercials instead of 30 second long commercials so thatthe embedded commercial content may have a duration of 2 seconds at eachpertinent point in time, with 4 pertinent points in time per 30 secondcommercial. Accordingly, adding the roughly 16-20 frames of commercialbreak content across the 16-20 pertinent points in time, each framehaving a duration of 2 seconds of normal playback time, to the eight 22second commercials results in a 3 minute normal playback time commercialbreak.

If the commercial content frames do not dominate the frame but merelyshare the full frame with the normal commercial content, such as bybeing superimposed or overtaking a corner of the frame, then the normalcommercial content may remain at its normal length in time such that theadvertisers need not alter the length of the commercial content sincethe commercial break content that has been embedded is a simultaneousdisplay with the normal content at the pertinent points in time.However, advertisers may be instructed to avoid using a certain corneror other location of the full frame where the commercial break contentmay be imposed. As discussed below, where the television channelbroadcasts a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio but the commercials are a 4:3aspect ratio, then no consideration need be given the embedding of thecommercial break content into the blank portion of the 16:9 full frameat the pertinent points in time.

When performing the embedding at the PVR, the normal commercial contentput in place at the head end will likely be designed to fill the 3minute commercial break. Thus, the PVR may overwrite the existingcommercial content at each of the pertinent points where the commercialbreak content is embedded where the commercial break content dominatesthe frame. As discussed above, alternatives include superimposing thecommercial break content over the normal commercial content such asovertaking a corner of the full frame to include the commercial breakcontent. Alternatives further includes including the commercial breakcontent in the blank area of a 16:9 aspect ratio frame where the normalcommercial content is a 4:3 aspect ratio frame and only fills a portionof the 16:9 aspect ratio frame.

The next pertinent point in time, which is the next point in playbacktime where a frame is expected to be displayed during thefast-forwarding, is found at commercial segment operation 408. Thispertinent point in time may be found by moving forward in normalplayback time by the amount of time that is expected to be skipped overby the VOD or PVR system during the fast-forwarding. This amount of timemay be known for the VOD or PVR system or may be empirically determined.For example, it has been observed that a TiVo® PVR skips forward onaverage about 8 seconds during triple-fast-forwarding (i.e., 60 timesfaster than normal playback speed) from one pertinent point to the next.

At insertion operation 410, the desired frame is embedded in the videostream at the current pertinent point. This desired frame may be arepeat of the frame from the previous pertinent point, or it may be adifferent frame, such as the next frame in a sequence of frames ofcommercial break content. This frame is repeated for the desiredduration at the current pertinent point. Query operation 414 thendetects whether the end of the commercial break has been reached such asbe determining whether the blank screen that ends the commercial breakis reached prior to reaching the next pertinent point. If not, thenoperation flow returns to commercial segment operation 408 to find thenext pertinent point of this commercial break. If the end of thecommercial break is reached, then the device performing the embeddingmoves on to the next commercial break at segment operation 416 bylooking for the next blank screen that indicates the beginning ofanother commercial break segment. Once the next commercial break segmenthas been found, these logical operations of FIG. 4 repeat in order toembed the commercial break content within this next commercial break.

In either the case of the head end or the PVR embedding commercialcontent frames as a portion of a full frame with the remaining portionof the full frame being the normal commercial content or when sharing a16:9 aspect ratio frame with normal commercial content, a differentembedding approach may be utilized. Since the normal commercial contentis displayed simultaneously with the commercial break content in thissituation, the commercial break content may be included for the entirecommercial break to further ensure that the commercial break contentwill be displayed for the viewer during fast-forwarding through thecommercial break. Where a sequence of commercial break content frameswill be used during a commercial break, such as to show movement of anobject or text, the duration of each commercial break content frame maybe extended for the full period between pertinent points, such as 8seconds with the occurrence of the frames being adjacent in time to fillthe commercial break segment.

FIGS. 5A-5D illustrate timelines of normal playback speed with a videostream transitioning from a program to a commercial break and back tothe program. FIG. 5A shows one example of a 3 minute commercial breaktimeline with commercial break content embedded within it. In thisexample, the initial pertinent point in normal playback time is at the0:30 mark after the occurrence of the blank screen separating theprogram and the commercial break. It is expected that upon a userselecting to fast-forward at the start of the commercial break, this0:30 mark will be a point where the VOD or PVR system will display aframe to the viewer. The commercial break content frame is embedded atthis point and is repeated for 2 seconds of normal playback time so thatthe first embedded frame runs from 0:30 until 0:32. The period betweenthe pertinent points in this example is 8 seconds such that the nextpertinent point in time where it is expected that a frame will bedisplayed during fast-forwarding is 0:38. Normal commercial content willbe present between 0:32 and 0:38 and will be viewed during normal speedviewing of the commercial break. This pattern of an 8 second period witha 2 second repeated commercial break content frame continues for theremainder of the 3 minute commercial break.

During triple-speed fast-forwarding by a TiVo® PVR, where 60 seconds aretraversed in 1 second with roughly 8 frames being displayed over the 60seconds being traversed such that each is displayed for only a smallfraction of a second, the 3 minute commercial break is traversed inroughly 3-4 seconds yet the viewer is exposed to as many as 19 frames ofcommercial break content during the fast-forwarding. Thus, to the extentthere is some degree of continuity across those 19 frames, the viewer islikely to absorb at least some of this commercial break content. With 19frames, even if the viewer misses some of them, it is likely thatseveral will be displayed. Where the commercial break content iscommercial content, it is likely that the viewer will recognize thesource and product or service being advertised. Where the commercialbreak content is content from the program being watched, it is likelythat the viewer will mistakenly think the commercial break has beenskipped and will stop fast-forwarding which will result in normal speedplayback of the commercial break.

FIG. 5B shows another example of a commercial break timeline where fewerpertinent points have been chosen and the duration of each has beenincreased to 5 seconds. Here, the pertinent points that have been chosenmatch some of the pertinent points from FIG. 5A. With the fewer number,the impact on the viewer who is not fast forwarding is decreased asthere are fewer commercial break content frames that will be experiencedduring the commercial break. With the increased duration, the likelihoodof each one of the commercial break content frames being displayedduring fast-forwarding is increased. Additionally, in this example, thetime spacing between adjacent pertinent points in playback time isvaried which may also lessen the impact during normal speed viewing ofthe commercial break content. This variation in time spacing withincreased duration of the commercial break content frame may lessen theimpact of a PVR or VOD service creating variation in the spacing betweenthe points in playback time that are actually being selected for displayduring fast-forwarding.

FIG. 5C shows another example of a commercial break timeline using a 10second period of the pertinent points with a 3 second duration of thecommercial break content frames being embedded. This spacing may beuseful in an attempt to provide the commercial content frames duringnormal fast-forwarding and also during large-chunk fast-forwarding(i.e., repeatedly jumping 30 seconds forward using a commercial skipinstruction). Here, some of the pertinent points in playback time willmatch some of the pertinent points in playback time of the example ofFIG. 5A. The 0:30 mark with 3 second duration of FIG. 5C will overlapwith the 0:30 mark with 2 second duration of FIG. 5A. Likewise, the 1:00mark with 3 second duration of FIG. 5C will overlap with the 1:02 markwith 2 second duration of FIG. 5A, and so on. Furthermore, at each ofthe 30 second spacings from the beginning of the commercial break (i.e.,0:30, 1:00, 1:30, and so on), the commercial content frame is beingembedded with a 3 second duration such that for each repeated instanceof the commercial skip function during the commercial break, theembedded commercial break content frame will be displayed to the viewer.

FIG. 5D shows another example of a commercial break timeline using a 30second period of the pertinent points with a 5 second duration of thecommercial break content frames being embedded. This configuration mayhave similar goals to that of FIG. 5C, such as to primarily target thelarge-chunk fast-forwarding but to also address normal fast-forwardingwhile reducing the impact on normal speed viewing of the commercialbreak. Again, there is overlap between many of the pertinent points with5 second duration of FIG. 5D and several of the pertinent points of FIG.5A.

Each of the examples shown in FIGS. 5A-5D are for purposes ofillustration and are not to be considered limiting. It will beappreciated that many variations are possible regarding the timing ofthe pertinent points, the duration of the embedded commercial breakcontent frames, and so forth. It will be further appreciated that thetiming and duration chosen may be on the basis of targeting a particularPVR or VOD service. For example, one may determine what the mostprevalent PVR or VOD service is and then configure the timing of thepertinent points and the duration of the embedded frames to bestcooperate with that most prevalent PVR or VOD service. Furthermore, thetiming and duration that is chosen for embedding the frames may evolveover time as the functionality of PVRs and VOD services change.

The frame is repeated for a given duration at each of the pertinentpoints in order to increase the likelihood of the frame being displayedduring fast-forwarding by the PVR or VOD service. PVR devices and VODservice may base the points in playback time for display duringfast-forward based on when the fast-forwarding begins, rather thanselecting points in time to display regardless of when fast-forwardingbegins. So, the duration of the frame at a given pertinent point allowsthere to be variation in the start time of the fast-forwarding from oneviewer to the next. Some viewers may begin the fast-forwarding at theimmediate beginning of the commercial break while other viewers maydelay the fast-forwarding by a second or two due to a different reactiontime, a more lethargic use of the fast-forwarding function, and soforth. By having a width in time of the embedded frame, some viewers maysee the occurrence of the embedded frame located at the very beginningof the pertinent point in time (e.g., at precisely 0:30.0 on thetimeline of FIG. 5A). Other viewers may see the occurrence of theembedded frame located at the very end of the duration at the pertinentpoint in time (e.g., at 0:31.9 on the time line of FIG. 5A) due to asecond or two delay in initiating the fast-forwarding relative to thosewho saw the occurrence located at 0:30.0.

FIGS. 6A-6D show examples of the display of embedded commercial breakcontent frames during the fast-forwarding through commercial breaks. Inthe example of FIG. 6A, the commercial break content frame that has beenembedded is a full frame such that when it is displayed, the normalcommercial content is not. In this example, the television program isshowing a mountain scene. The commercial break begins with a commercialabout an automobile. During the fast-forwarding, a frame from thecommercial about the automobile is shown for a fraction of a second andthen a frame at a next pertinent point is displayed. In this example,the next frame being displayed is the commercial break content framethat has been embedded at the pertinent points where it is expected thatthe display by the PVR or VOD service will occur.

In the example of FIG. 6A, the embedded frame of commercial breakcontent is itself commercial content. The commercial break content framein this example is an advertisement for Brand X. In this example, thesame frame is repeated at each of the pertinent points. Thus, the vieweris repeatedly exposed to the same frame throughout the commercial breakthat is being fast-forwarded over. In the example of FIG. 5A, the viewermay be exposed to this Brand X advertisement as many as 19 times. Atleast some of the normal commercial content located between each of theembedded commercial break content frames is skipped as would be the casehad the embedded frames not been present. The embedded frames ofcommercial break content may not be identical. For example, the color ofthe background and/or text may change from one pertinent point beingdisplayed to the next. The text may be positioned differently from onepertinent point being displayed to the next to give the appearance ofmotion of the text to further capture the attention of the viewer.

In the example of FIG. 6B, the embedded frames of commercial breakcontent are only partial frames that have been imposed over frames ofnormal commercial content. Here, at each of the pertinent points, thenormal commercial content frame is still displayed but the partial frameof commercial break content has also been embedded. Accordingly, whenviewed during fast-forwarding, it appears to the viewer that most framesbeing seen have the embedded commercial break content such that theviewer is able to comprehend and absorb that information. The remainingportion of the frames being displayed during fast-forwarding maycontinue to have the arbitrary normal commercial content that the vieweris unlikely to absorb, especially due to the presence of the embeddedcommercial content that draws the attention of the viewer.

In this example of FIG. 6B, one displayed frame during fast-forwardingincludes content from a commercial about an automobile while theembedded content refers to Brand X. In a subsequent displayed frameduring fast-forwarding, content from a commercial about a mobile phoneis displayed while the embedded content continues to refer to Brand X.In another subsequently displayed frame during fast-forwarding, contentfrom a commercial about a computer is displayed while the embeddedcontent continues to refer to Brand X. Thus, because the normalcommercial content of a given commercial is only displayed for afraction of a second during fast-forwarding but the embedded content isrepeatedly displayed, the viewer is likely to absorb the embeddedcontent. Again, with the partial frame, the content may change slightlyfrom one pertinent point to the next to give the appearance of motion ofthe text or objects.

In the example of FIG. 6B, the partial frames of commercial content thatare embedded so as to share the frame with the normal commercial contentcould be included in all frames of the commercial break rather than onlybeing included for a desired duration at each of the pertinent points asshown in FIGS. 5A-5D. This would ensure that the viewer would see theembedded commercial content for every displayed frame duringfast-forwarding. However, to lessen the impact on the viewer who iswatching the commercial in normal playback speed, either because theviewer is watching the program in regular time without or without a PVRor VOD service or because the viewer is watching a recorded program butsimply chooses not to fast-forward, the embedded content may be includedonly at the pertinent points in playback time. This results in theembedded content not continually being displayed during the normalplayback.

FIG. 6C shows a situation where the television channel being watched isbroadcasting a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. Much of the commercialcontent remains in the 4:3 aspect ratio. Conventionally, the 4:3 aspectratio commercial content is centered within the 16:9 aspect ratio frameresulting in blank side bars. This blank space may be utilized to embedcommercial break content. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6C, the 4:3aspect ratio commercial may be pushed to one side of the 16:9 aspectratio frame leaving a significant portion of the 16:9 aspect ratio framefor inclusion of the embedded commercial break content. Again, with thepartial frame filling the remaining portion of the 16:9 aspect ratioframe, the content may change slightly from one pertinent point to thenext to give the appearance of motion of the text or objects.

As with the example of FIG. 6B, the example of FIG. 6C allows thesimultaneous display of the normal commercial content and the embeddedcommercial content. Thus, the embedded commercial content could beincluded in every frame being displayed during the commercial break toensure that the viewer who is fast-forwarding sees the embeddedcommercial content in every frame being displayed. Alternatively, theembedded commercial content may be embedded for a duration at each ofthe pertinent points so that the viewer who is not fast-forwarding doesnot continually see the embedded commercial content during thecommercial break.

In the example of FIG. 6D, the commercial break content that is beingembedded is not commercial content. Instead, the commercial breakcontent is content taken from the program being watched. In thisparticular example, the program being watched is about mountain sceneryand so frames containing mountain scenery are embedded at each of thepertinent points. It may be desirable to have the embedded content offrames from the program being watched be full frames that fill thedisplay screen so that the viewer cannot distinguish these embeddedframes from those actually present within the program. Accordingly, asthe viewer fast-forwards during the commercial break, at least some ofthe embedded frames from the program being watched are displayed.

When fast-forwarding through the commercial break, the viewer sees theseframes from the program and mistakenly believes that the commercialbreak has ended. As a result, the viewer stops the fast-forwarding inorder to return to normal playback speed of the program. However,because the commercial break is not really over, the viewer then seesthe commercial break in normal playback speed. The viewer may becomefrustrated by the inability to distinguish commercial breaks from theprogram being watched during fast-forwarding and may stopfast-forwarding altogether. In that case, the commercial break will bedisplayed in normal playback speed such that the viewer will be exposedto the commercial content as intended by the advertiser.

As described herein, embedding commercial break content into the videostream being displayed to the viewer during fast-forwarding may assistin conveying content to the viewer who might otherwise absorb little tono content during fast-forwarding through a commercial break.

While embodiments have been particularly shown and described, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that various other changes in theform and details may be made therein without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention.

1. A method of providing commercial break content during thefast-forwarding of a video stream, comprising: providing at least oneframe of commercial break content video; and embedding within acommercial break segment of the video stream at a plurality of points atleast one frame of video containing the commercial break content, atleast a portion of the plurality of points corresponding to fast forwarddisplay points of a video recording device capable of recording andfast-forwarding through the video stream, the plurality of points beingseparated in time.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdistributing the video stream including the commercial break thatincludes the embedded at least one frame of video at the plurality ofpoints through a communication network.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one frame is repeated for a duration at each pointof the plurality.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least oneframe comprises a first frame that is repeated for a duration at onepoint of the plurality.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the firstframe is further repeated for a duration at a point of the pluralitysubsequent to the one point of the plurality.
 6. The method of claim 4,wherein a second frame different from the first is repeated for aduration at a point of the plurality subsequent to the one point of theplurality.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of pointsoccur at regular time intervals.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein theplurality of points are spaced in timer over the entire commercial breaksegment.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: recording thevideo stream including the commercial break segment that includes theembedded at least one frame of video at the plurality of points on arecording device; playing back the video stream at normal speed from therecording device until reaching the commercial break segment; andfast-forwarding the video stream upon reaching the commercial breaksegment such that the video stream occurring for at least a portion ofthe plurality of points is displayed to thereby display the at least oneframe of the portion of the plurality of points multiple times duringthe fast-forwarding of the commercial break segment.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one frame is repeated at each point for aduration of about 2 seconds with a duration of about 6 seconds betweeneach of the points.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least oneframe is repeated at each point for a duration of no more than 5 secondswith a duration of about 30 seconds between each of the points.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the at least one frame is a full-screenframe.
 13. A computer system for generating a video stream includingcommercial break content, comprising: at least one input device; anoutput device; and a processor configured to receive commercial videoand at least one frame of commercial break content via the at least oneinput device, to create a commercial break segment by embedding at leastone still frame of the set at each of a plurality of points within thecommercial video, the points of the plurality being separated in timewith at least some commercial video other than the at least one frame ofcommercial break content being located in time between each of thepoints of the plurality, and to output the commercial break segment viathe output device.
 14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the atleast one frame is repeated for a duration at each point of theplurality.
 15. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the at least oneinput device comprises a data input port.
 16. The computer system ofclaim 13, wherein the at least one output device comprises a data outputport.
 17. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the at least oneinput device comprises a storage medium.
 18. The computer system ofclaim 13, wherein the at least one output device comprises a storagemedium.
 19. The computer system of claim 13, wherein a first frame ofthe at least one frame is repeated during one of the point of theplurality.
 20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the first frameis further repeated for a duration at a point of the pluralitysubsequent to the one point of the plurality.
 21. The computer system ofclaim 19, wherein a second frame different from the first frame isrepeated during a point of the plurality subsequent to the one point ofthe plurality.
 22. The computer system of claim 13, wherein theplurality of points occur at regular time intervals.
 23. The computersystem of claim 13, wherein the plurality of points are spaced in timerover the entire commercial break segment.
 24. The computer system ofclaim 13, wherein the at least one frame is repeated at each point for aduration of about 3 seconds.
 25. The computer system of claim 13,wherein the at least one frame is repeated at each point for a durationof about 1 second.
 26. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the atleast one frame is a full-screen frame.